Don will be doing a special performance workshop on Friday 29th May in Banstead, Surrey.
Will have this up and on the site to book ASAP.
This will be his only performance day while in the UK and will include the following;

Performance Lecture
"The Buster Balloon Show Live!"
This is the real deal, nothing held back.  Don Caldwell takes you into the world of his
famous alter-ego, Buster Balloon.  You will see Don's 45 family show in it's entirety,
then strip it down beat by beat in a Q&A session to discover what makes a successful
balloon show tick.


After lunch the fun continues with Don teaching several of his other favorite original
balloon gags, tricks, and routines that are not currently in his show.

Don has agreed to do the interview for this week, as if we're both being honest   we are hoping it will wet your appetites to book for either his performance day in Banstead on Friday 29th May or his hands on lecture/workshop in Birmingham on Wed 3rd June.
So please fire away with any questions you may have for Don about the days or anything else balloon related.

Just had an email from Leo and The Millennium Jam is confirmed and will be going ahead this year on the 10,11,12th November at sunparks

This may be old but I'd not heard it and thought it was nice.
When you make a poodle you tell everyone that his name is Pierre, because thats all he does......Pee Air. boom boom

A 30 min show on the return of the Las Vegas superstars;

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/

A write up about Mark Verge and his balloon dress;

http://www.financialpost.com:80/scripts ... id=1361826

My old camera has been playing up since twist & shout and it's time to get a new one.
I just googled review, best digital camera and the one that keeps coming up is a canon IXUS 80
with what looks like good reviews.
So was just wondering if anyone on the forum is a bit of a camera buff and has any other suggestions as I need to get this ASAP.

I have the hp photosmart R937 which was OK but not very good when zooming in although it has a 3X optical zoom but built within the camera.

Just got back from seeing what well could have been the best non magical/balloon show that I've ever seen, the show was just fantastic from the very first song. The jersey boys is about Frankie Valli and the four seasons, all I can say is just go and see it as there is no way that you will be dis-appointed. It was brilliant

Krazy Kev has volunteered to answer all your very personal questions to him this week, so fire away any other questions that you may have for him like why are Sunderland the best team in the North East :lol:

I expect some thought this was going to be a song based challenge, well the older ones amongst us anyway :lol:
Just looking to see what to put on for March and realised we set nothing for February
So this months challenge is nice & broad  so that hopefully everyone will have a go & contribute. So the theme is;

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

Yes the headline is correct    
I've just got off the phone with Leo and he has given me two provisional dates that he's looking at but The Millennium Jam 2009 will be going ahead this year although on a slightly run down scale at the same venue sun parks for a three day event, so we can travel on the Monday and the event will be Tue, Wed Thurs and travel home on the Friday.

The confirmed date will be announced at the end of this week, I personally think that this is great news  

I was looking to have the Exeter day on either the 22nd/29th April. I think the easter holidays are over with by then?
Unless someone knows differently, and does anyone wish to volunteer to be the mystery lecturer? If so please send me a PM.

Something to while away the hours; http://tinyurl.com/ballooncups

Have had a couple of new things made for the site, having trouble uploading them to the most recent news home page.
The find a twister button moves when you scroll over it but the thing i really like is the new balloon tutorial button when you scroll over it........have a look and see what happens;

http://www.balloonchat.co.uk/index6.html

hope to have this up & working on the front news page soon.
We will also have a new tutorial button next to the user pc button underneath the balloon chat logo for when viewing through the forum as well.

I have been on MSN for quite a while now and normally speak with Petra, we also use the video as well so that I can see all of her latest creations
Well everyone keeps telling me to get skype so I've just downloaded it and have gone under the name;
sempertexballoons

I did try others but they kept being rejected as they were already taken. Put a post on balloon HQ and within 10 secs got my first call from Bruce Kalver who I met at the magic circle last year and for a few moments at Blackpool this weekend as he was over lecturing.

So is anyone else on skype and what else can I do with it, what are the major plus points with the system

Dave has volunteered/been press ganged into being interviewed.
Just had a quick look at his website and we did work together a few months back at Eden Walk shopping centre in High Wycombe.

Well I've just had a quick look at three of the five cd/DVD's that I bought when at twist & shout.

Tonya McNeill, class notes have some really nice & cute designs on them and a bargain at only $20 for the 10 designs because she also shows an extra 12 designs with no instructions but made with the same technique.
I very much liked the Giraffe, elephant and cow from the explained section and think the cow would look well funky with adding some udders to it :lol:
And from the extra 12 designs shown the Monkey, Santa and Frog are really nice with a special mention for the Zebra as this is one that can be difficult to make but looked good on the CD. It looked very much like the horse instructions with some added artwork, so a good buy when you see there are over 20 designs.
I think you would need to know the basic twists etc as not all the instructions are in picture form and step by step but they are all written down on the pdf file so the cd is fairly easy to follow for the basic twister.

I then looked at Andrew McDonald (McPump) with his untitled cd from the class notes at twist & shout. It covered 10 designs and the notes on how to twist at Malls that he talked about during his other lecture. Of the 10 designs my favourite were the giraffe, bunny which had a nice eye/eye brow technique and his small horse which I'm sure the girls would adore.
Not all the pdf instructions were laid out the same with a few variations and this did make it more difficult to follow along with the instructions.
 
Then onto Lincoln Johnson aka Maddhatter and his weaved hat design.
I saw his lecture when at Diamond jam in 2007 and the hats were very very impressive, this dvd just touched the surface of what I saw during his class but will get you started with his basic weaved hat which is a lot more fancier than any other weaved hat design that I've seen.

The other two DVD's that I have to look at are,
1, balloonamentory
2, story telling & entertaining with balloons by Gilbert Adams

hope to get time to view them soon

I drove the six hours up to Blackpool today for the start of the convention tomorrow lunchtime, the stand is set and were ready for action tomorrow. Just need to make a few balloons in the morning to make the stand look extra pretty. Thelma is going to make a few things from both of her Cd's and I'm going to make one of Ken's princesses.
The car was a work of art, like a puzzle as it took me over two hours yesterday to load up, if you've seen it for one of the care & share days well I had twice as much stuff loaded in with every nook & cranny filled. When we unloaded it was like the tardis from doctor who :lol:
or the endless box, things were appearing from everywhere but I'm sure the first person at the stand will ask for something that we've probably forgot to bring. Still I'm sure it will be a great weekend as we've all just been to the variety live show at the grand theatre, it was absolutely fantastic, a real joy to watchwith top names from all over the world and we had tickets in the royal box. Very much looking forward to the rest of the evening shows as I just love them, it's what the weekend is all about for me. If I get a chance I'll keep you posted on whats occuring up hear, David Blaine is meant to be making an appearance which will be interesting to see the reaction he gets, already bumped into Eugene Berger, Rafael and Jeff McBride, just to name drop a few.

http://www.cardstacker.com:80/index2.html

PERFORMANCE MAGIC DAY

Have been putting this together over the last few weeks with a good friend and we've decided that It's about time we shared with everyone what we think makes a good children's entertainer. We will be discussing everything at the day from finding a character, insurance, good advertising and giving away our whole acts that we've been using for the past 20/25 years from funny lines, why we use certain props, how to create added laughter & tension to your show, why the flow of a show is very important and everything else to help others make a success of being the best children's entertainer possible. This is the very quick advert that we've come up with to promote the days at Blackpool next weekend and if you have any questions then please fire away & we'll try to answer them for you.

                   
The real secrets to making a good living as a Children's Entertainer
Have you always wanted to become a children's entertainer or improve your             established act ?
Graham Lee & Mike Ingham, who between them have over 50 years experience of entertaining children, are joining together to give away all the real secrets to this very lucrative world of children's entertainment.
How to get the most out of props.                                                                
How to get work in this massive market.                                                  
How to use, look after and train doves and rabbits.                                        
Learn what really makes children laugh.                                          
Balloon Modelling, How to work a shopping centre without the queue's .
Graham and Micky will be performing their acts live and on DVD so that you can see the reaction from a live audience situation.                    
A MUST DATE FOR THOSE WHO TAKE THEIR ENTERTAINING SERIOUSLY.        
MICKY & GRAHAM GUARANTEE THAT THEY WILL BE SHARING WITH YOU AND GIVING AWAY ALL THEIR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT,                                                
"THE WORLD OF CHILDRENS ENTERTAINMENT"                                                                                                  
Two dates are planned for 2009                                                  
Banstead, Surrey June and Birmingham, November